Running Malwarebytes alongside another antivirus program

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is a great security tool that is particularly effective against & # 39; potentially unwanted programs (PUP & # 39; s) & # 39; and other annoying software that traditional antivirus programs don't deal with. But it is meant to be used alongside an antivirus and does not completely replace it.

If you use Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, you should use it alongside a primary antivirus to keep your computer in top shape. But traditional advice is not to run two anti-malware programs at once. Here's how to thread that needle.

On-Demand Scans

The standard, free version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware simply functions as an on-demand scanner. In other words, it doesn't run automatically in the background. Instead, it only does something when you launch it and click the Scan button.

This version of Malwarebytes should not interfere with your antivirus at all. Just install it and run it occasionally to run a scan and check for the "potentially unwanted programs" that almost no one really wants. It will find and delete them. Using an anti-malware program as an on-demand scanner is a safe way to get a second opinion.

You don't have to do any additional configuration here. If Malwarebytes reports an error removing a found malware, you may be able to interrupt or disable real-time scanning in your main antivirus program to prevent it from interfering, and then immediately re-enable real-time scanning. But even this shouldn't be necessary, and we've never heard anyone come across a problem like this.

Run Malwarebytes in Side-by-Side Mode

Starting with Malwarebytes 4, the Premium version of Malwarebytes now automatically registers itself as the system's security program. In other words, it can handle all your anti-malware scans and Windows Defender (or whatever other antivirus you have installed) will not run in the background.

You can still run both at the same time if you want. Here's how: Open in Malwarebytes Settings, click on the "Security" tab and uncheck the "Always register Malwarebytes in Windows Security Center" option.

With this option disabled, Malwarebytes will not register itself as the system's security application and both Malwarebytes and Windows Defender will run simultaneously.

Real-Time Scanning

The paid version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Premium also includes real-time scanning functions. Malwarebytes runs in the background, scans your system and files you open for problems and prevents them from taking root on your system in the first place.

The problem is that your main antivirus program already works this way. The standard advice is that you should not enable real-time scanning for two antivirus programs at the same time. They can interfere with each other in various ways, slow down your computer, cause crashes or even prevent each other from working.

RELATED: Antivirus Slows Down Your PC? You may have to use exclusions

Malwarebytes is encrypted in a different way and is designed to work without interfering with other antivirus programs. It can even work without further configuration. But in order for it to work as best as possible and improve performance, you need to set exclusions in both Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Premium and your default antivirus.

To do this in Malwarebytes, open Malwarebytes and click on the Settings icon, select "Allow List" and add the folder – usually under Program Files – containing the files of your antivirus program.

In your antivirus program, load the antivirus program, find "exclusions", "ignored files" or an eponymous section and add the appropriate Malwarebytes files. You must exclude these files according to the official Malwarebytes documentation:

For more specific instructions, you may want to search the Internet for "Malwarebytes" and the name of your antivirus program. Or simply search the web for the name of your antivirus program and "exclusions" to see how to add those exclusions and exclude the files on the Malwarebytes website.

<img class = "alignnone wp-image-671062 size-full" data-pagespeed-lazy-src = "https://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/4-exclusions -for-malwarebytes-in-defender.png "alt =" Add Malwarebytes exclusion to Windows Defender [19659026] Malwarebytes is designed to run alongside a normal antivirus program, so you don't usually need to worry about this, especially if you use only the free version. If you use the paid version, setting exclusions can prevent problems and maximize the performance of your computer, but even that is usually not entirely necessary.